New Beginnings

Last June, I lost my job.

I haven't told many people about this partly because it's a little embarrassing and partly because I'm still not too sure what happened. While I wish I could say it was something like budget cuts that led to my unemployment, I can't. In fact, I don't know why I lost my job. I worked hard, I cared about my kids and I took my responsibilities very seriously. For a while, I could not accept the fact that although I had met the criteria for a "good" employee I was still shown the door. I carried these feelings with me until I returned from my trip to the Appalachian Trail last week. A weekend of hard work (both mentally and physically) and strong experiences with my new co-workers/friends let me know that it was time to move on.

The aforementioned trip was a part of my new job teaching high school in the Bronx. I was lucky enough to get the new job (which almost didn't happen due to MORE unreal drama) which I will officially be starting tomorrow. This teaching experience is going to be very different from my previous school. Instead of being in quiet, tree lined Queens neighborhood, I'll be right in the heart of the Bronx, the place where I learned the most and where I grew up the quickest. Most importantly, I'm going to be out of my "comfort zone" which on the surface seems like scary thing but if you look a little deeper....

I was working at a great school with high achieving students whose biggest problem a lot of the time was whether they would be getting a new IPod touch. Now, don't get me wrong, I worked with a lot of students from many different backgrounds who needed a lot of help and support(I'm a NYC Public School Teacher for God's sake!) but at the end of the day I don't know if those kids needed me in their lives. I don't say that from a selfish point of view as wanting to be needed but more from what I feel I can offer my students as their teacher. I'm excited because after talking with my new colleagues, I get the sense that a positive educational experience as well as a strong adult influence might be what some of them need to point these kids in the right direction and at the end of the day that's what teachers are there to do.

Please don't get the wrong idea. I don't think of myself as some savior who's going to change these kids lives in one fell swoop, but I would like to think that the terrible things that happened to me last June can result in a positive. I know that at times it is not going to be easy but I truly believe that I have the skills, talents and life experience to help make a difference for my new students.

Sometimes it's just too easy to be comfortable. Sometimes we need a kick in the ass to jump start the lives we are meant to live as well as the ones we are meant to influence. I got my kick in the ass and it hurt....for about two months. Now it's time to move on. It's time for new beginnings. It's time to help a new group of students.

Game on.